Tournament Rating Bands

We are now in a ridiculous situation with this. At present my TER is 2006 and I can see a total of 23 tournaments available to enter. Of this a mere 5 are Open tournaments, the rest are top rate banded. Some of the 18 banded tournaments have been open since September and many still have only one or two entrants. Most have the same 3/7 time control. There is no clue as to which might fill up first or when by entering one you might get a game. A clean up is required and perhaps fewer top band tournaments made when the equivalent lower bands are created. Maybe tournaments should kick off a set period after they are created even if not filled.

I would also like to add my voice to those saying there should be a band cut off above 2200. Leaving aside the issue of possible engine use the skill gap between an 1800 player and a 2300 player is a big put off to entering these. I know that 2200+ TER may only apply to fewer than 50 players but as others have said having a fighting chance is a greater attraction for those entering the band below!

Originally posted by Ragwort
We are now in a ridiculous situation with this. At present my TER is 2006 and I can see a total of 23 tournaments available to enter. Of this a mere 5 are Open tournaments, the rest are top rate banded. Some of the 18 banded tournaments have been open since September and many still have only one or two entrants. Most have the same 3/7 time control. There is ...[text shortened]... rs have said having a fighting chance is a greater attraction for those entering the band below!

There are currently 21 tournaments available to enter; 3 open tournaments and 18 banded.
Each and every one of the banded tournaments currently available to enter is top rated:
3 x 1975+, 1 x 1970+, 1 x 1870+, 2 x 1855+, 8 x 1790+, 1 x 1740+, 2 x 1685+.
All the banded tournaments below the top level have been filled, yet of the 18 top-banded tournaments which are available, only five of these are currently over 50% full.
Two of the tournaments date back to September, one of these isn't even half full yet.

There's clearly an imbalance, the problem being that top-rated bands are slow to fill.
So why is this?
Do higher rated players have less interest in entering tournaments?
Or are there a number of players, maybe with a TER around 1800, put off from entering because they will potentially come up against 2400 rated players, some of whom may be using engines?
Personally I suspect it may be the latter.
The purpose of banded tournaments is to create a level playing field.
This isn't the case with the top-rated banded tournaments.